Rain
by Jareth Dallis
Summary: Open skies are clouded tears are raining down. On a rainy night, two people with broken hearts find what they had been looking for. In each other.


**Author's Notes: This oneshot brought to you courtesy of, Kekkonshiki no Uta by Miyavi.**

It was a late night, and a heavy rain was pouring over Konoha. It had been only three years since the end of the war, many things changed. Yet the more things changed the more they stayed the same. And for Naruto this was truer than anything, because though he was a hero, the old adage the hero gets the girl was a lie.

He lay on his bed staring at the ceiling as he remembered the day he learned the truth, the day his heart was broken. As fate had it all his work to save Sasuke from revenge and the endless spiral of self destruction would come back to haunt him. When Sasuke came to Konoha, things went bad for Naruto.

"_I hope you understand Naruto, you're a good friend…but Sasuke needs me more…" Sakura said as she looked at Naruto, hoping, really hoping he would understand._

"…_Yeah…I understand…" he had said that, but inside he was dieing, the fact she just disregarded everything they went through. All the tears they cried, all the laughter they shared, for the sake of her selfish love._

"_Are you sure…you don't sound like it?" she asked, she didn't realize what she had done was just rip out his heart. She didn't bother to let him down gently, breaking up is never easy, though they were never together, but in truth it was break up._

Now Naruto stared at the wedding invitation and frowned and threw it to the side, he had done his best to move on. But it was hard when you reminded constantly that he had lost. Suddenly and pounding came at the door of his home, he looked at the clock, it was Eleven PM, who would be here at this hour. He crawled off his bed and pulled his cargo pants on since he didn't know where he put his robe, and headed to the door.

As he opened the door, he saw Karin, her eyes were bloodshot, and she was soaking wet, her silken sleeves, and her Chinese style top clung to her body, as did her skirt. She looked as if she were crying for hours, she hadn't been so keen to resign herself to having lost her war for Sasuke.

"Karin? What are you doing here?" the blond asked, having not expected to see her come to his house this late at night.

She weakly held up her invitation to the wedding before dropping it into a puddle outside his house. She lunged herself towards the kindhearted shinobi and clung to him, as she sobbed loudly. She didn't want to accept what had happened, but she had to.

"I'm sorry Karin..." he said as he hugged the redhead, he knew it was harder for her, he knew she had this dependence on the bastard, she wasn't in love with Sasuke, she just needed him. He helped her into his house and closed the door behind them, she needed to possibly get out of her wet clothes into some dry ones.

"…W-What so special about her!!!" she cried out as she clung tightly to Naruto sobbing into his chest.

He sighed some, he had to wonder what was so special about Sasuke, which would drive Karin to be like this, he took a deep breath and said with a sigh, "I don't know. But come on, you need to get out of your wet clothes…"

He took her to his bedroom, and let her sit on his bed, while he found some of his old clothes for her to wear. He set them out beside her on the bed and said, "I'll be just outside the door okay?" he turned and walked outside, the room, to allow her to change her clothes.

Moments later she walked out of the room, doing her best to hide her arms from him, until he grabbed hold of her arms to stop her from hiding her arms. He saw the numerous scars on her arms and neck, from being bitten his eyes widened in shock, "Wha-What happened to you?" he asked as he looked at her arms.

"…It's one of my abilities, I can heal people by allowing them to bite me and siphon my own chakra. A lot of these are from Sasuke…" she said in shame not wanting to look the boy in the eye. She jerked her arms free, and turned away from the blond, crossing her arms over her stomach. "I'm ugly…that must be why he doesn't want me!" she exclaimed, revealing a fact, she had low sense of body image due to her scars.

Naruto was about ready to storm out and kick Sasuke's ass when he heard the last words she said and it stropped him. "That isn't true…" he said as he turned around and walked towards her and put his hands on her shoulders saying softly, "You are very pretty, the scars don't make you ugly, they give you character."

Karin blushed deeply, it was the first time anyone ever told her she was pretty it was almost unusual for her. She shook her head and said with a sigh, "You're just trying to make me feel better…"

"I'm not you could have any guy you wanted if you just stop thinking about an unappreciative bastard…" he said as he turned the girl around, and hugged her, he knew what she wouldn't admit, that she is one of the more beautiful kunoichi in the village.

'…_This is different…' _the thought to herself as she looked up at the blond,she found that she was feeling something much more natural than when she would fling herself at Sasuke. For the first time she knew what it was like to be hugged, to have someone show adoration for her. "Could I really have anyone I wanted…?" she meekly asked as she closed her eyes and rested her head on his chest.

"Anyone, you just got to give them a chance…because Sasuke didn't appreciate you!" exclaimed the blond as she looked down at her, he would do anything to help her.

"…Even…" she began as she trailed off, biting her lip, feeling nervous for once.

"Even…?" he said waiting to see where she was going with this.

She looked up at him timidly her cheeks flush with embarrassment, a look of sincerity in her eyes as she said, "…You…?"

Naruto instantly blushed, he wasn't expecting that from her, not in the least. He didn't know what to say in response to this since it was so out of the blue. She was essentially on the rebound and it wouldn't end well for either of them, since rebound relationships never work.

"After all…your heart, it's still wounded isn't it…?" she said as she placed her hand over the blonde's heart as she kept looking up at him.

"Isn't it too soon for you Karin…?" he asked as he looked at her, he didn't want to end up hurting the girl or have her hurting him.

"…Maybe it is…" she quietly said as she looked to the ground, she then looked up at him and said, "but they say fools rush in, and I'm the biggest one around…I wasted so many years on Sasuke…"

When the redhead had said these words, Naruto felt as if he could relate to her, he had to stop being a hypocrite he realized that he was no different, years and years pining after Sakura. And for what, a text book, you're still my friend speech? He stopped hugging her, he wanted to protect himself, he didn't want to be hurt again. More so he was confused by her sudden interest in him, he said with mild confusion, "Why would you want me? I'm nothing like Sasuke…"

"…Perfection is in the flaws, Naruto-kun…" she spoke softly as she looked up at him, as if she saw something in the blond, something other people couldn't she continued, "I see you are a kind person, willing to help others, and you are really warm, your chakra its warm…"

Hearing these words made Naruto's eyes well with tears, it was the first time that someone told him they accepted him for him. Not because he was a hero. Not because he had done great things. Not because he would one day become Hokage. But because he was him and it was something that warmed his heart.

"…And…I…always found you cute…ever since we met…" Karin demurely said as she looked down her cheeks still tinged a crimson darker than her hair.

Naruto blinked looking at her, because this was a first for him, to have someone say that to him, and he just blinked again saying, "You thought I was cute?"

"Yeah…" she said as she looked at him, slightly tilting her head, as she held her arms behind her back and modestly saying, "…And now…"

"Now…?" he asked wanting to find out.

"Now…I see clearly…all these years I was wasting my time. You have your flaws, but you feel, you can open up, and you can even live for more than hatred." she said as she walked over and took his hands looking at him warmly.

_'This is so different…to have someone actually show feelings for me…it's so…so nice…' _Naruto thought to himself before pulling Karin into a tight embrace, he liked the feeling he got when she said these things about him. And at this moment a loud crack of thunder ripped through the sky just before the power went out.

"Here is your answer Karin-chan…" he whispered as he lifted her chin and kissed her softly, running his other hand through her long crimson hair. The two of them didn't need light to see how they really felt about each other in this moment.

The next morning, it didn't take long before the rumor started spreading about how Karin was seen leaving Naruto's house that morning. Not to mention the fact, they were seen kissing on his door step before she left. It was hours later when Sakura confronted the red head about it.

"What were you doing at Naruto's house?" Sakura quickly asked as she looked at Karin with disapproval, as if she thought it was her decision who could and who could not associate with Naruto.

Karin frowned as she looked at her former nemesis, as she harshly replied with, "What me and Naruto-kun were doing in his house is frankly none of your business."

"It is my business when you are using him to get back at me because Sasuke-kun decided he wanted me more than you. And a whore like you isn't worthy of Naruto." haughtily the pink haired Medical Ninja said, as she stared at the red head.

Karin's lips curled with anger, she didn't appreciate Sakura calling her a whore, she hated whenever she was called one, she angrily responded saying, "Listen to me you heartless bitch. I love Naruto, I see him for who he is, a flawed but caring guy. Something you couldn't appreciate. You have no right to decide Naruto can and can't be with. You lost that right when you selfishly broke his heart, just so you could be happy!!"

As Karin turned away, Sakura furious with anger rushed at Karin, the redhead expecting this hooked her legs around Sakura's left ankle causing the pink haired kunoichi to fall face first into a mud puddle. And the icing on the cake would be the fact she had been carrying her wedding dress in her other hand at the time.

Karin stood over Sakura and looked down at her and said, "So sorry, but maybe you can learn to just be happy for me and Naruto-kun. After all he was doing his best to be happy for you and Sasuke"

An hour later, Karin and Naruto went to Ichiraku Ramen for lunch, Naruto saying confidently, "Sasuke should be realizing the error of his ways about now."

Karin knew that Naruto was going to punish Sasuke for his treatment of her, so she asked, "What did you do to him, Naruto-kun?"

Grinning from ear to ear the blond looked at Karin and said, "I learned a few things from the Raikage in my time of knowing him and Kirabi. The bastard should be waking up in the remains of a table with a splitting headache about now."

Karin smiled some knowing that she found herself a good guy, who would defend her honor, as well as treat her well. This to her was happiness. It was the love she always wanted she only wished she discovered it sooner. And she knew that Naruto felt the same, because of the selfishness of two people, two good and kind hearted people would find their happiness with each other.

**Author's Notes: And there it is. Hope you guys enjoy it.**


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